Question

The main source of food and fodder is

• A. lichen
• B. cereals
• C. fungus
• D. cotton

Answer 1

The correct option is B

cereals

The correct option is B.

Explanation of correct option

1. Cereal refers to any grass in the Poaceae family that yields edible starchy seeds, usually known as grain.
2. Most grains have similar dietary characteristics, like a high carbohydrate level but low protein composition, as well as a natural shortage in calcium and vitamin A.
3. The most commonly cultivated grains are wheat, rice, maize or corn, oats, barley, and sorghum.
4. Cereals are the main source of food as well as fodder (crops on which animals feed).

Explanation of incorrect options

Option A:

1. Lichens are a symbiotic assemblage of fungi and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae).
2. The cyanobacteria benefit from the fungi's wet, sheltered environment, while the fungi benefit from the cyanobacteria or algae's food.
3. It does not provide food or fodder.

Option C:

1. Mushrooms and yeast are two types of food that fungus produces.
2. These have been consumed for thousands of years directly or as a constituent of other foods.
3. Yeast is utilized in the baking of bread and the brewing of alcoholic beverages.
4. The sexual bodies of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes, on the other hand, are edible and are known as mushrooms.
5. These are the source of food but not fodder.

Option D:

1. Cotton does not provide food or folder but it has textile importance and provides fiber.

Final Answer: The main source of food and fodder is cereals.